The recent spate of murders involving guns and what appears to be black on black violence is quite depressing. Ignore all the media circus and the politicians jumping on the bandwagon blaming everyone from absent fathers (more of that later) to videos on the Youtube and Myspace.
Forget the pap coming out of the mouths people like Tony Blair and his cronies (or for that matter any other "seen to be doing" politician), who promise to make new laws, increase sentences, and yes even the opposition leader from the Conservative party who wants to compel absent fathers to reunite with their families (the fact that he is making a huge assumption that the absent fathers actually want to get back together with their estranged partners). What really needs to be done is to enforce the laws that we already have in place.
More than anything, i think education is the key. Most of these kids do come from poorer backgrounds, and yes in a few cases the family structure maybe less than ideal. However, what we certainly don't need is the shotgun reaction (pardon the pun!) of politicians eager to be seen to be taking action.
At present the current climate bears all the hallmarks of the time when there was a public furore over a number of attacks by dogs on young children, this lead to the introduction of the dangerous dogs act. Partly the problem lies with us, the public. The public misguided need for swift justice feeds the politicians who feel that they are answering the call of the people (it's amusing that when the public clamours for restrictive laws or acts, everything is rushed in, on any other occasion, we'll be lucky if the politician actually acknowledges the public concerns).
The other factor in this, is the "get rich" attitude by many black teenagers. These kids who feel held back at school and college, have no other role models other than the likes of "gangsta" rappers. A motley crew of black rappers who are cherry picked by white Americans, perpetuating the myth that life is cheap and money is easy...
I'm saying that kids should understand or be taught to understand that what they see presented by the media as a hard man on screen waving a gun and strutting his stuff is nothing more than the acted out fantasy of middle class WASPs.
There is no quick get rich scheme. Education, integration and care will only help to drop levels of crimes such as these.
Forget the pap coming out of the mouths people like Tony Blair and his cronies (or for that matter any other "seen to be doing" politician), who promise to make new laws, increase sentences, and yes even the opposition leader from the Conservative party who wants to compel absent fathers to reunite with their families (the fact that he is making a huge assumption that the absent fathers actually want to get back together with their estranged partners). What really needs to be done is to enforce the laws that we already have in place.
More than anything, i think education is the key. Most of these kids do come from poorer backgrounds, and yes in a few cases the family structure maybe less than ideal. However, what we certainly don't need is the shotgun reaction (pardon the pun!) of politicians eager to be seen to be taking action.
At present the current climate bears all the hallmarks of the time when there was a public furore over a number of attacks by dogs on young children, this lead to the introduction of the dangerous dogs act. Partly the problem lies with us, the public. The public misguided need for swift justice feeds the politicians who feel that they are answering the call of the people (it's amusing that when the public clamours for restrictive laws or acts, everything is rushed in, on any other occasion, we'll be lucky if the politician actually acknowledges the public concerns).
The other factor in this, is the "get rich" attitude by many black teenagers. These kids who feel held back at school and college, have no other role models other than the likes of "gangsta" rappers. A motley crew of black rappers who are cherry picked by white Americans, perpetuating the myth that life is cheap and money is easy...
I'm saying that kids should understand or be taught to understand that what they see presented by the media as a hard man on screen waving a gun and strutting his stuff is nothing more than the acted out fantasy of middle class WASPs.
There is no quick get rich scheme. Education, integration and care will only help to drop levels of crimes such as these.
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